New Windows 10 notebook boasts MacBook looks at half the price

IF YOU'RE in the market for a new Windows 10 machine, but don't fancy breaking the break, then the latest in the MagicBook series from Honor could be perfect for you. Here's everything you need to know.

You might only know Honor for its mid-tier smartphones that, let's be honest, have taken a massive hit after the US trade ban stopped Huawei - the parent company of Honor – shipping handsets with any Google apps or services installed, including the Google Play Store. That makes these smartphones pretty tough to recommend right now.

For that reason it seems Honor is shifting its focus, in Western markets at least, to other devices. Nowhere is that approach more obvious than in the Chinese firm hardware keynote in Barcelona last month, which included announcements of two smartphones and three other devices, each from different tech categories.

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One of those products was the Honor MagicBook 14 – the Huawei sub-brand's first laptop to launch in the West. And in typical Honor fashion, the MagicBook offers a commendable spec sheet for a very competitive price.

The Honor MagicBook 14 will certainly look familiar if you've ever laid eyes on a Huawei laptop. The device is made of aluminium, plastic and is designed to be thin and lightweight. Flipping the lid open reveals a 14-inch display surrounded by small borders on its sides and top. On the bottom you'll find a chunkier bezel emblazoned with Honor branding.

The laptop also has a pretty great trackpad, keyboard and includes a fingerprint sensor on its power button so you can unlock it with minimal tedium.

The MagicBook 14 is Honor's first laptop to launch in the West (Image: Honor)

The Honor MagicBook 14 supports 65W charging (Image: Honor)

If you're someone that's particularly concerned about privacy, don't worry. The laptop's front-facing camera is fitted underneath one of its keys, so it'll only be there when you summon it. If for nothing else, it saves you slapping any tape on the device.

Under the bonnet of the Honor MagicBook 14 you'll find an AMD Ryzen 5 3500U mobile processor, 8GB of DDR4 RAM and 256GB of SSD storage. Safe to say, the laptop should be able to cope with most Windows 10 tasks without breaking a sweat. Of course, the laptop isn't designed for extremely demanding tasks like playing the latest AAA games or editing 8K video.

And yes, you read that correctly. The Honor MagicBook 14 comes pre-installed with Windows 10 Home Edition, so you won't have to worry about any software issues like you will if you buy a new smartphone from either Honor, or its parent company Huawei.